Four mln Britishers have never worked in their lives

Nearly four million Britishers have never had any form of paid work in their lives, which is more people than the population of Wales.

The figures reveal the scale of problem faced by British welfare system, which has been criticised for allowing jobless people to be better off than those in work.

More than a quarter of those who have never earned a living are aged between 25 and 64, and 205,000 over 65s had never worked before becoming pensioners, the Daily Mail reports.

The number of British people who have never worked in their lives was 3.9 million

But the worst affected group is the young people, with more than a third aged between 18 and 24 having never done paid work.

The Office for National Statistics figures, which include disabled people who cannot work, revealed London is the city worst affected by lifelong joblessness, with 737,000 in the capital having never worked.

Birmingham has the next highest number of adults who have never seen a payday, at 144,000.

According to the report, TaxPayers' Alliance boss Matthew Sinclair told The Sun that the figures were shocking, as they underline the importance of reforming the welfare system in order to make work pay once and for all.

Earlier this year it was revealed that Britain had one of the worst workless rates in Europe, with joblessness particularly affecting single mothers in the UK, it added. (ANI)